chargement...
In Canada, lawyers are concerned about entry bans in the United States against Muslim Canadians. Recently, this measure targeted at least six citizens, two of whom spoke about the problem to CBC, as relayed by Radio-Canada.
For example, the media reports that Imran Ally, a Guyana-native and imam in a Toronto mosque «and his wheelchair-bound, special-needs son were held at the Peace Bridge crossing near Fort Erie, Ont., for more than five hours». After the interrogation, the border police refused him entry.
While traveling to the country for his daughter's wedding, he was considered by an American agent to have a name that «matches that of a bad guy». He was extensively questioned about «his charitable endeavours related to resettling Syrian refugees», CBC says.
Toronto-based Iraqi Turkmen community group president Nejmettin Vali experienced a similar situation. While traveling in the United States with his family, he had to undergo a secondary inspection for more than four hours. His cellphone was seized, along with his wife’s and children’s, while the entrance was denied.
Nejmettin Vali, however, has been to the United States in the past, including to support «his three grandchildren since his own son – a former Iraqi policer - was killed by ISIS forces».
«We know the climate there in the U.S. has changed, it's a bit different, but at the same time there are processes and procedures and people should be afforded opportunities to challenge a case», Daud Ali, a lawyer specializing in migration, told CBC.
«I have never seen such a Kafkaesque scenario», said Joel Guberman, who has been a lawyer for more than 40 years and quoted by the same source. Indeed, «neither Guyana nor Iraq are among the seven Muslim-majority countries subject to U.S. President Donald Trump's ‘Muslim ban’ executive order, which essentially blocks refugees and visitors from those countries from entering the U.S.», the Canadian media recalls.
